Nice To Know You Care
by Captain Peregrine
Summary: Rodney and Elizabeth get to know each other a little betterthough not under the best of circumstances


Elizabeth Weir sat in the cafeteria by herself, staring absently into space while her mug of coffee cooled between her elbows propped on the table. For once in the entire two months that she had been in Antarctica she finally had a moment to herself. Unless she was sleeping she was usually surrounded by people asking for advice or needing a mediator on a project or eagerly wanting to show off something that they had just discovered. Elizabeth loved the work—she really did. This job was at a level of excitement and movement that she had not experienced in many years and she loved it. But it was nice to finally have a moment to do nothing but be alone with her own thoughts.

It was late—so late that almost everyone had gone back to the base by now. Only a skeleton staff was working with only Elizabeth left from the regular shift of day occupants.

At least she thought she was alone. When she heard footsteps coming into the cafeteria she prepared to leave and find some other corner to go to to be alone, but when she looked up and saw Rodney she suddenly had no desire to leave.

Over the past two months the scientist had been growing in her admiration. Not only was he intelligent but an extremely fast learner. Though he had come in a week after the rest of the main team he had quickly passed them by in his knowledge of Ancient technology. And Elizabeth couldn't remember seeing so much energy in one person. He was constantly moving—especially his hands. She wondered if he would have even be able to form a coherent sentence if he wasn't allowed to move his hands. She assumed not—the man was in constant motion and in those rare moments when his hands weren't flailing in the air around him he was silent. It was as if his mouth and hands were connected and he could not use one without the other.

The image of that made Elizabeth smile and she looked down at her coffee. Seeing it now she seemed to suddenly realize it was there and she picked up her mug to take a sip. Looking over the rim she watched Rodney as he idly sauntered over to the food bar. So far he hadn't seemed to have noticed her and Elizabeth didn't mind. She enjoyed taking these rare moments to study the man, for it was almost impossible to do so when he knew she was around because then he was always talking to her.

Even though he had been on the base for two months, with her, Elizabeth felt there was a lot more to learn about this man. Though he was very talkative, he was not very forthcoming with personal information. Elizabeth hadn't actually _asked_ him to tell her anything, but usually people tended to open up about these things when asked. At least she had thought most people would. Most of the people she thought of as friends loved talking about their families—none more so than Carson Beckett. She smiled at the memory—for an hour she had listened patiently to Carson merrily rattle on about his mother and siblings and even about Scotland itself.

She considered Rodney to be a friend, if not a close friend, and yet she knew… nothing. She paused in the middle of taking another sip.

Did she even know how old he was?

Elizabeth found her eyes drifting towards Rodney again. There were no cooks on this late at night and so the only thing the man had to hunt around for were stale leftovers from earlier in the day. Even from where she was sitting she could hear him grumbling to himself as he eyed the food beneath the sneeze guards. Finally, though, he seemed to find something that appealed to him and he pulled a plate out from beneath the guard bearing a slice of pie.

Elizabeth smiled again.

Okay, so she did know something. The man had an insane sweet tooth—and he loved his coffee. Every time she saw him he was almost always eating or caring around a mug of fresh coffee.

Rodney grabbed a fork and turned away from the food bar and suddenly spotted Elizabeth sitting alone at her table. He paused a moment, but Elizabeth offered him a smile. He seemed to decide something and he strode across the cafeteria to seat himself at the table across from her.

"You're here late." Elizabeth said. Rodney picked up his fork and began to cut at the pie.

"So are you." He pointed out as he shoved a piece into his mouth. Still chewing he looked up at her and frowned. "Why _are_ you here so late?"

Elizabeth smiled over her coffee, the mug held between her hands.

"This is the only time I ever get to be alone when I'm actually awake." She said softly. Suddenly Rodney's eyes widened and he turned dreadfully pale. Elizabeth smiled again.

"Rodney," she laughed gently, "I don't mind you being here. I enjoy your—"

But Rodney wasn't listening. He suddenly began to cough and he clutched at his throat. Elizabeth's eyes flew wide.

Was he choking?

She must have spoken aloud because Rodney shook his head violently.

"Citrus." He gasped. He coughed again. "Get Beckett."

And then his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed out of his chair.

Elizabeth was immediately beside him on the floor, tapping her radio.

"I need a medical team to the cafeteria immediately!" she shouted to whoever was listening. "I have a man down! We need to get him to McMurdo now!"

Rodney's eyes fluttered open and he found himself staring up at a sterile white ceiling. At first he had no idea where he was until he shifted slightly. He felt the all-too familiar touches of a breathing tube in his nose and an IV pricked into his arm. He sighed and closed his eyes again, leaning his head back against the fluffy pillow beneath his head.

A hospital. Most people hated the cold, sterile environment but here, strangely, McKay felt safe. Here he was left alone but for the nurses and doctors, and yet was constantly surrounded by watchful eyes. Here he was alone, but protected.

With his eyes closed he could not see anything around him, but he heard it when someone came into his room. They were soft, light footsteps and signaled that the one coming into his room was a woman. McKay kept his eyes closed. He didn't really want to waste his precious sleep on even a little blond nurse.

A second set of heavier footsteps came in after and McKay realized, quite unhappily, that now there were _two_ people invading his privacy.

So much for hospital safety.

"How is he?" a gentle voice asked quietly and Rodney almost opened his eyes in surprise. Elizabeth? What was _she_ doing here?

"He'll be fine. If I know anythin' about our Dr. McKay it's tha' he's one stubborn bugger." Rodney recognized Dr. Beckett's heavy Scottish accent. "He seems t' have had a wee bit of an allergic reaction t' somethin'. Citrus, I think."

"Citrus? He was eating _pie_." Elizabeth pointed out, sounding puzzled.

"Aye." Beckett sighed and Rodney could almost picture him shoving his hands into the pockets of his white lab coat. "Wha' probably happened is that somethin' just spilled—orange juice, lemonade… wha'ever. Keep in mind, Elizabeth, tha' i' was quite late. No one has to worry about the food situation that late because i' will jus' be changed again in the mornin'. In any case, tha's wha' I think happened."

Rodney heard Elizabeth sigh.

"How long will he be here?" she asked quietly.

"I'm gonna keep him here over night for certain. He seems t' be hypoglycemic as well an' he already had low blood sugar when ye got him here. Bu' I think he'll be ready t' go back t' work in a day or two."

"Thank you, Carson."

"No' a problem, Elizabeth." The doctor replied. "He should be wakin' up soon, so if you want t' stay…"

"Thank you, Doctor." He heard the gentle smile in Elizabeth's voice. The Scot murmured a reply and Rodney heard his heavier footsteps retreating out of the room. A moment later he heard a scraping sound as if a chair were being dragged across the floor and then the rustle of cloth as Elizabeth sat down beside his hospital bed.

Rodney, with his eyes still closed, couldn't figure out what was going on. Why was she here? Why was she staying here? Rodney had been in a hospital bed hundreds of times and _none_ of those times had anyone _ever_ sat in a chair beside him. So why was Elizabeth here—a woman who barely knew him or anything about him? It was a question that Rodney had no answer to and that was something he was not used to. Before he could stop himself Rodney heaved a sigh of confusion.

"Rodney?"

Rodney winced and inwardly cursed himself. Now she would know he was awake. Trying to keep from sighing again, Rodney slowly opened his eyes and looked towards Elizabeth.

"Dr. Weir." He murmured in feigned surprise. "What… uh, what are you doing here?"

"I came to see how my Chief of Science was doing." She told him warmly, a soft smile curving the corners of her mouth. "So—how are you doing?"

"I've been better." Rodney groaned truthfully, struggling to sit up. He sighed and leaned against the pillows again. He gave her one of his dry, lopsided smiles. "But what's a little allergic reaction, eh?"

Elizabeth managed a small smile in return.

"No big deal." She said, raising an eyebrow. When Rodney didn't respond she sighed again and absently smoothed the sheets at the edge of the bed with her palms. She looked up again and once again Rodney found himself wondering what in the hell this woman was doing sitting beside his bedside. When she didn't offer up any better explanation he sighed and crossed his arms, careful not to disturb the IV.

"So… what are you doing here, Dr. Weir?" he repeated shortly. Elizabeth sighed and leaned back in her chair, crossing her own arms across her chest.

"First off—it's Elizabeth. And frankly, Dr. McKay," she said calmly, "I came here to see if I could figure you out."

"Excuse me?" Rodney demanded, becoming slowly more and more uncomfortable.

"I'd like to think of you as a friend." Elizabeth said. Rodney raised an eyebrow and before he could speak she continued. "But I don't know anything about you. So I came here… well, I suppose I was hoping that you would be half drugged on morphine or something and I could wriggle some personal information out of you."

Rodney looked at her like she had just sprouted a second head. He opened his mouth and then snapped it shut again. He shook his head and tried again.

"You—_what_? You want to know about _me_?" He looked at her with something almost akin to disgust, but more akin to shock. Then he frowned, a look of complete and utter confusion decorating his face. "_Why_?"

Elizabeth blinked.

"Um… well… because." She said lamely. Thrown off by his questions she decided to throw back one of her own. "Why do you find this all so hard to believe, Dr. McKay?"

"Because most people don't care." He told her bluntly. He was silent a moment longer before he sighed and surprised Elizabeth once again. "Well, first thing—if I'm calling you Elizabeth than you can just call me Rodney, I guess. And secondly…" he spoke with a tinge of defeat, "what do you want to know?"

At first he had spoken harshly and coldly and had kept himself distant. But as moments passed into minutes and minutes into hours Rodney slowly loosened up and it wasn't long before it seemed less like he was talking then unburdening himself. Elizabeth could tell that this was the fist time he had ever allowed himself to do this—to talk with no walls surrounding him. Sometimes when he spoke he smiled and for the first time Elizabeth felt herself privy to a real smile—not simply a sarcastic stretching of the lips but a _smile_.

Elizabeth listened patiently, speaking when she thought she needed to, but staying silent for the most part. She found herself enjoying his voice, enjoyed watching the swift movements of his hands as he spoke. She enjoyed having this time to get to know him, to realize that he was comfortable enough around her to drop his defenses and _really_ talk.

Rodney talked about his past for nearly three hours, pausing only when someone else entered the room to check up on him. When he finally ran out of things to say—or decided he had finally said enough—Elizabeth decided it was only fair to share some of her own life's story with him. He had been a good listener, too, and though Elizabeth certainly did not fill as many hours as Rodney had it still felt good to tell him about herself. She truly wanted them to be friends because this man… there was something about him that interested Elizabeth and she wanted to get to know him better as a _person_, not just a colleague.

By the time Elizabeth finished she and Rodney knew more about each other than perhaps any other person did—or would. And hadn't it only been a few hours earlier that they had known nothing at all?

For Rodney it was slightly frightening at first. He had never opened up to anyone like this before—the closest he had ever come prior was when he told Samantha Carter that he had wanted to be a classical pianist. And now he had just told this Elizabeth Weir almost everything about his past—his sister, his parents, his own trials and tribulations. The only thing that kept him from being truly frightened and not saying a thing was that it was… comfortable talking to this woman. She didn't brush him off immediately when he became brash and arrogant and she seemed honestly interested in what he had to say. He realized that it was a _relief_ being able to talk to another human being like this and so he pushed aside his usual defenses and let the words flow.

Finally, after hours of sitting by his bedside smiling and listening and talking, Elizabeth got to her feet to leave. She said good-night to the scientist.

"I expect to see you back at the outpost within three days." She told him, raising an eyebrow and smiling gently. Rodney smiled his thin-lipped, crooked grin.

"If your voodoo doctor doesn't bleed me first."

Elizabeth laughed and turned to leave.

"Dr. W—er, Elizabeth." Rodney called her name quietly and she turned back to him. He sighed and looked at her briefly before flicking his eyes away again.

"Um… thanks." He said lamely, still not looking at her.

"For what?" Elizabeth asked. Rodney focused his blue eyes on his bed sheets.

"For talking." He said. He raised his eyes and smiled slightly. "It's… uh… it's nice to know you care."

Elizabeth smiled again.

"Your welcome, Rodney." She said and when he didn't say anything else, she turned away and left him alone again.

Rodney sighed and leaned back in his bed, closing his eyes. Once again the silence of the room settled down on him and it was only then that he realized how much he really appreciated that Elizabeth cared.


End file.
